Archive for the ‘Shooting Brake’ tag

Yes, the Aston Martin DB6 is a highly desirable car, but where’s the room for schlepping your Hefty CinchSaks to the transfer station, or picking up a couple of bags of QuickCrete at the Home Depot? If that question is what’s holding you back from owning one, you’ll be interested in the Aston that Bonhams will offer at its inaugural Boca Raton sale later this month.

This 1965 shooting brake – let’s skip the origins of the nomenclature, and just agree that it’s a highfalutin’ name for a station wagon – was constructed by Harold Radford & Co., a London Rolls-Royce and Bentley dealer that began building coachwork in the 1940s. Radford converted six DB6s to shooting brakes, along with a dozen DB5s. This particular example, chassis number DB6/2387/LNK, is one of five left-hand-drive DB6 versions and was ordered by one James Harrison of Madison Avenue (an original Mad Man?), who specified air conditioning and a high-output 325hp Vantage DOHC straight-six.

The idea of creating a shooting brake out of the thoroughbred sports car originated with company owner David Brown, who wanted a car that would accommodate his dogs and hunting gear. He had a DB5 converted by Radford, and when his customers began asking for something similar, he made arrangements with the coachbuilder to meet the demand. When DB5 production ended, the conversions continued with the DB6. FLM Panelcraft, another British coachbuilder, produced another two (or possibly three?) DB shooting brakes.

This example was originally registered in the UK as DGY 344C, which appears to be a London registration issued during 1965, and was converted in 1967 or 1968, the seller believes. It was refinished in Aubergine (Eggplant) by Radford, and still has the same paint, as well as the original beige Connolly leather interior. The catalog description offers few details on the chain of ownership, noting only that it was still in New York as of 1992, and was sold to collector Ed Herbst in the early 1990s.

A DB5 shooting brake sold for the equivalent of $680,000 at Bonhams’s big all-Aston sale in the U.K. in 2011. Bonhams estimates that this car will bring $575,000 to $625,000. The Bonhams Boca Raton auction will take place February 22-23. For more information, visit Bonhams.com.

* It does us good to see other sites, such as Cars in Depth, picking up stories from David Greenlees’s The Old Motor, particularly when they’re stories on see-through cars (or in this case, see-through car parts).

If there’s anyone at Hemmings who doesn’t dig wagons, they haven’t had the courage to speak up about it. Wagons bring almost the same performance as a sedan version, but were almost always produced in much lower numbers. There were innumerable clever packaging solutions in the back, like jumpseats, two-way doors, sliding cargo trays and more. And of course, there’s always the obvious utility of a vehicle that handles like a car but can swallow weeks of luggage without impinging on the seating area.

You might think the utility is less obvious when it’s a two-door wagon (shooting brake), one of 12 1965 Aston Martin DB5 Vantages custom-bodied by Radford at a cost of around £7,000 (about $19,500, or one Ferrari 400 Superamerica, plus tax). But after an initial stint with the St. Brides Hotel in Wales, where it presumably functioned as an actual station wagon, it made its way to Aston enthusiast Denis Roy Smith in 1972, who, with a young son, needed a family vehicle. But Radford Shooting Brakes hold their value, and Smith needed a loan to secure it. No problem said the bank, who gave him a second mortgage, “because of its obvious utility and the need for a family vehicle.”

Smith owned it until his death in 1995, installing a five-speed ZF transmission in place of the original automatic, “much to his wife’s disgust.” His son took charge after that, until he offered it at Bonhams’ Aston Martin sale on May 21, where it just about doubled the high estimate when it sold for £430,500 ($704,4oo, which is now-hah! Slightly less than a 400 Superamerica). Smith Jr. had kept it in storage for many years before having it reconditioned for the auction, where it dazzled all who saw it with its original paint, interior and engine, and 58,000 immaculately documented miles. According to Bonhams, young Smith said, “She now needs a good home and, more than that, a new life.” I dearly hope there’s a family out there somewhere with the panache and guts to take a new generation of kids to school in high style.

Is the world ready for an Audi sports hatchback? Oh, sorry, we meant sports wagon.

Carefully avoiding the h-word, Audi is unveiling an interesting new TT-based sporting compact at the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show. Powered by Audi’s 3.2-liter V-6 engine and featuring the Quattro full-time, all-wheel-drive system, the Shooting Brake Concept is said to be capable of a sub-6-second 0-60 mph dash.
“One new element in the portfolio of design features is the upward swoop behind the rear side window. This, together with the wide C-post, accentuates the prominent rear end,” Audi said.
It’s only a study, with no indication that production will follow. Still, whatever you call it, the Shooting Brake is an interesting counterpoint to BMW’s Z4 Coupe concept.

(This post originally appeared in the October 13, 2005, issue of the Hemmings eWeekly Newsletter.)